City completes demolition of 1950s-era public housing project

January 27, 2011|By Joe Lawlor, jlawlor@dailypress.com | 247-7874

NEWPORT NEWS — One down, one to go.

Newport News this week completed demolition of the Dickerson Court apartments, a subsidized housing complex built in the 1950s at 20th Street and Jefferson Avenue. Now, the city will turn to demolishing the adjacent Harbor Homes, which was built in 1941 as temporary housing for shipyard workers building ships for World War II.

"We needed to tear down that mess," said Councilman Joe Whitaker, who lived in Harbor Homes in the early 1950s and watched Dickerson Court being built.

The city spent $843,000 to tear down the 340 units at Dickerson Court, and will spend a somewhat lower amount demolishing the 252 units at Harbor Homes. The entire 35 acres of Dickerson Court/Harbor Homes, off lower Jefferson Avenue, will be vacant by summer 2012, officials said, with the goal toward re-development.

Karen Wilds, executive director of the Newport News Redevelopment and Housing Authority, said that a milestone was reached this week. It took nearly eight years from the initial proposal to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to this week's final demolition to tear down one public housing project, she said.

The housing projects have struggled with crime and blight, and Wilds said with them gone, it should open up lower Jefferson Avenue to redevelopment.

Any redevelopment at the Harbor Homes/Dickerson Court property would complement plans by former NFL quarterback and Newport News native Aaron Brooks to develop an area on lower Jefferson Avenue between 29th and 33rd streets. Brooks recently signed a joint venture agreement with Armada Hoffler to develop the property, including a grocery store, retail and residential.

"I think it's a prime development site, and it dovetails with everything that's happening there," said Hugh Forehand, community development director for the redevelopment and housing authority.

Wilds said residents who lived at Dickerson Court were relocated to other public housing in Newport News, and the same will be done for Harbor Homes residents. She said residents were given a minimum of 90 days' notice, and she hasn't heard many complaints about the relocation efforts.

But not everyone is happy about the demolition.

Kimberly Winn, who grew up in the Southeast Community of Newport News, said "a lot of people are against it."

"They're throwing people out of their houses, including a lot of older people who didn't want to move."